In the Valley of Death
by Sunshine Zenica
Summary: The Walking Dead gang end up in California. They travel through the Valley and come across Modesto. This is what goes down. RATED M BECAUSE IT MIGHT GET SPICEY EVENTUALLY. AND I LIKE TO SWEAR.
1. Chapter 1

The heat overhead was intense but not humid, making it almost bearable. Rick looked over his shoulder and at his fragile little group. The fact that it wasn't humid made it easier for them to travel, but in the end the extra distance and the unwavering heat was taking a toll on the group.

"Alright guys, I know it's been a long day and I know you're all tired, but we are on the edge of a small town in the valley," Rick said as he approached the group, "It's only a few more miles and we will be in a new town."

Many of the people groaned but knew Rick wouldn't stop until they could stay somewhere safe for at least one night. The sun was still high in the sky despite the fact that it was nearing 6 o'clock, and the heat was still just as relentless as ever.

"Damn! Are there even any clouds round here?" Daryl grunted as he wiped the sweat from his face.

"Nope. Not a single one. This is the real sunshine state you know," Rick chuckled, "I spent three weeks in December with my Grandparents that had moved out here when I was a boy. I could walk around in just a long sleeve and pants and I was fine. Rained all of twice while I was here. Other than that, clear skies the whole time."

"Ain't that rich? Nothing but heat and sunlight. At least in Georgia we had our rains." Daryl grunted wiping his arm across his very red face.

"Welcome to California!" Glenn chirped. The whole group laughed and eventually fell silent as they continued their journey.

"What is the own that we are going into called?" Maggie asked as they began to see more signs of civilization.

"Um, it's a small town in the valley called Modesto. It rests away from most major cities so we might have very few walkers to deal with." Rick said as they got closer to a convenient store on the edge of town.

"There're a couple cars in that parking lot. And if we're lucky the store will have some good stuff too." Glenn said to Rick as he tried to see inside the store from afar.

"It looks okay. Plus I haven't seen a walker in a while. Still have your weapon ready." Rick stated and nodded to Glenn. As soon as Rick gave the okay, Glenn and Maggie shot off towards the store. A few minutes passed and the group anxiously waited for Glenn and Maggie to give the all clear. Finally they came back out the front door and waved. Rich all but sighed and motioned for the rest of the group to join Glenn and Maggie. Everyone gathered their bags up and trotted towards the store, everyone except Rick. Eight people, that's all they had left now. People he had grown to know and love all gone. Carol was the last to go, and that's when the group decided it was time to leave Georgia. Too much of their loved one's blood was in that soil, so they headed west.

"Hey Rick! Both of these cars have keys and gas!" Glenn shouted across the parking lot, a huge grin spread across his face. Rick wiped the stray tears from his face and walked to join the rest of the group.

"The store is almost completely full too. People here must have got word and got the hell out of dodge." Daryl said as Rick approached the store front, "It's like no one has touched it since before the outbreak. Do you think?" Daryl leaned in close and whispered the last part.

"I don't know. Maybe the outbreak wasn't as bad out here. But I just can't be sure." Rick whispered back. He wanted to hope, they all did. He was pretty sure that every person in the group hoped that the outbreak hadn't affected here and that they would find a little utopia and live happily ever after. But they lived in the real world where the shit never seemed to stop hitting the fan.

Daryl just nodded and walked back into the store. He stalked over to the counter and hopped over. He smirked to himself as he took his knife and jabbed it in the lock and popped it open. Even in the dark Daryl found his brand in a hot second, Marlboro Greens. Quickly, he snatched a lighter off the counter behind him and lit one up. The smell of tobacco and mint soothed him. He grabbed a couple more packs and a few lighters and threw them into his backpack. He moved further down and found the liquor cabinet. Again he popped off the lock and searched through all the bottles, until he found exactly what he wanted. The biggest bottle of Jim Bean Black they had, it had always been his favorite, even if Merle thought it was just "glorified shit water".

Satisfied with what he had, he jumped back over the counter and headed over to the candy aisle. He grabbed a few packs of Big Red gum, his only guilty pleasure. Finally he trotted back outside to meet the rest of the group. The new cars were all loaded up and everyone was idly talking.

"I got the smokes and booze locks off y'all." He said as he approached, and Maggie all but ran off with Glenn in tow.

"Daryl, you're going to be riding with me and the kid, if that's all right with you." Rick almost whispered. Daryl looked over and Rick was looking at the ground and shuffling his feet.

"Ya know? I would down right enjoy that." Daryl smiled and patted Rick on the shoulder as he rounded the car to out his gear in the back. When Carol died, people seemed to tip toe around him again. Rick still wasn't doing all that well and everyone tip toed around him almost as much as Daryl. When either man was around things were always tense. And when they weren't trying not to set them off, they wanted to talk about feelings.

Carl and Judy were already in the car, so Daryl stood outside and smoked another cigarette. Tonight was going to be a good ride, he could just feel it. He loved little Judy, she was the little ray of sunlight that kept him in the group sometimes. And Carl was turning into a fine young man, especially considering where he was growing up. Rick was like him in so many ways. Both men were broken, but trying to heal. No walking on eggshells or trying to soul search, just two guys riding in a car with a job at hand. Like normal again. He stomped his cigarette out and got in the car. Rick got in almost right after he did and started up the car. The cars hit the high way and as the clock hit 6 the sun continued to beat down, high and viciously hot.

"The kids are out; do you want to see if the tape player works?" Rick said about half an hour into the car ride. The car they were in was an older Toyota with a tape and CD player. Daryl looked through the glove box and found three numbered tapes. He looked over at Rick who just shrugged his shoulders, so he popped in the number one tape.

"Well, hello there folks, I'm Eric Turner and if your hearing this that means you've survived long enough to find my cars," the voice that came on startled both men. Quickly Rick flashed his lights and stopped the tape and the car. He opened his door and waved everyone else over to them.

"What's going on?" Hershel asked in a strained voice looking for the children in the back seat.

"We have a tape in our car from the man who left us the cars." Rick announced and everyone's jaws dropped, "He said his name was Eric Turner and that he left us these cars." He then reached over and pressed play again.

"I never really did anything good in my life worth noting, so I thought I could help from beyond the grave. I won the lotto at that store right there, two million dollars. I bought the store, and let the money change me. I lost my wife, my daughter turned into a gold digging tramp and my son committed suicide. When stuff got crazy, I tried to get my family together, but it was too late. I had lost everyone I loved. This was going to be the tape that my suicide confessions would be on, but then I thought, 'why be so lame? What if a real survivor finds this? It will just be the winey last words of a man who couldn't deal.' I grew some balls and went into action. My neighbor volunteered to come with me and we left for my store.

"I filled both of our cars up when we got here and I gave him my delivery van and supplies and sent him on his way. I left you my most beloved tapes, and I know the tapes may be out dated, the music on them lives forever." Moments after his voice stopped _Something _by The Beatles started to flow from the speakers.

Daryl looked around the group and everyone was smiling. There was mist in some of the eyes, but they were all smiling. No one said anything, there was no need. The others just smiled and went back to their car. Rick and Daryl closed their doors and followed the other car in silence for a while. Great song after great song pumped from the speakers.

"I puked on my prom date at while this song was playing," Daryl chuckled as _Let's Dance _by David Bowie started to play, "Merle got me real drunk and I was already so nervous. One second we were dancing and having fun and the next I was vomiting all over the front of her dress." Both men started to laugh and relax more.

"Shane really loved David Bowie. He even had a red mullet at one point," Rick said eyes distant with memory, "All of us guys would tease him but he didn't even bat an eyelash." Rick rolled his window rolled down his window and let his arm hang out. Daryl leaned his seat back a bit and took a deep breath. Right now, all was right. Things were good.


	2. Modesto

They arrived in the little town just after 7:30 but the sun was still in the sky shinning down on them. The heat had gone down very little and the whole group was ready to just settle down for the night, but they knew they had to keep going. They stopped just as they came closer to the city part of the town. The cars parked and everyone just shuffled around waiting for someone to say something.

"I think it would be best if we split up and tried to look for some place safe for tonight." Rick finally said. Everyone nodded and started to go gear up.

"Hershel?" Rick said gently.

"Yes Rick?" questioned Hershel as he sat in the passenger side of Rick's car.

"It's only going to be Judy here with you and Beth. Carl is going to go with me." Carl, who had just woken up before they stopped, perked instantly with his father's words. Rick only had to nod and Carl jumped out of the car and started to get his gear ready.

"Daryl would you head west? Carl and I will go east and Maggie and Glenn can go south," Rick announced as the group reformed, "We should only be gone for about an hour it is starting to get late." The group only nodded and disbanded.

Daryl walked off into the almost neighborhood area. His crossbow was across his back, they hadn't seen a walker in hours. His knife was still in his hand though, he wasn't stupid. He walked for a couple blocks and seen absolutely nothing. Not a cat, a dog, a dead body or traces of people fleeing. It was almost scarier than the towns that looked abandoned. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he continued to walk. He walked for almost 15 minutes in complete silence, the heat was beginning to finally let up and the whole world glowed gold as the sun began to set on the valley. More time passed and still nothing. Daryl began to creep around corners, the silence nearly driving him insane.

He stalked around another corner to find a small gas station with one odd thing; a bright yellow scooter next to one of the pumps. Quickly he darted into a yard and hid in the bushes. He scanned everywhere for the driver, and looked for more vehicles. Daryl crouched in the bushes waiting for the rider to expose themselves, and nearly gave up. Seconds before he was about to stand up and investigate the scooter, someone came skipping out of the gas station store.

Daryl froze out of instinct and shock. The person that stood next to the scooter was a young girl, who was dancing around her scooter. Relieved, he popped up and ran off towards her. Maybe she knew what happened here. Her back was to him when he approached. Without thinking, he reached out to tap her shoulder to get her attention; as soon as he did he was on his back looking up at the sky. She had dropped down when she felt his hand, swept his feet out from under him and now straddled him about to deliver the death blow to his brain. He lunged forward and pushed her back throwing her off of him and he quickly tried to climb on top of her and try to calm her down. Instead, she kicked him square in the chest and made him stumble back. Now angry, Daryl regained his balance and charged towards the girl who was trying to get her scooter away from the gas pump. He grabbed her left arm and he received one of the best punches in the face since last time he and Merle had gotten into it.

The punch blinded him for a few seconds and he squeezed her arm harder as both he and the girl hit the ground. He groaned as the blood really started to flow from his nose and all of a sudden her right elbow came up and nailed him in the ear as she really began struggle underneath him. With renewed rage, he sat up and yanked the arm he had a hold of and shoved it behind her back and pushed up. A hiss escaped her lips and she stopped moving.

"God damn girl! What's your problem?" Daryl said as his nose dripped blood on her back, "I'm going get us up, okay? Please don't hurt me or I'll hurt you even worse."

He got up and grabbed both of her wrists and used them to help pull her up while still restraining her. Still holding her hands he circled in front of her to see the girl that almost got the best of him. But she wasn't a girl at all, but a young woman; a young woman who looked like she was on the verge of tears with a big pink scrape on her cheek. Instantly Daryl felt bad.

"I'm going to let go of your hands. Please don't try to slug me again." Daryl nearly whispered to her, slowly releasing her hands and backing away ever so slightly. Her hands flew up to her face and she scowled at him, the tears never once falling.

"I'm real sorry about that. But I thought you were going to kill me. Nearly did actually." Daryl tried as the girl continued to burn holes in him with her gaze.

Something about her was almost haunting. She was short but it almost didn't appear so until you were right next to her. Her grey eyes held so much venom he was afraid to make eye contact in fear of dropping dead. Her shining brown hair flowed around her face, crazy little waves and ringlets gave her hair the impression of a lion's mane. And finally he seen where the knife had come from, there was a knife belt around each thigh.

"Look, I said I was sorry. Okay? I mean…" Daryl's voice trailed off as he grew suddenly dizzy. Warmth started to cling to his skin by the top of his jeans. He looked down to see the bottom of his shirt was cut open and he was bleeding from a cut that started just above his belly button to his waist band. The cut wasn't extremely deep, but it was deep enough for him to be losing a lot of blood.

He stumbled back and the girl stopped scowling and darted forward to help him keep his balance. She put his arm around her shoulders and dragged him towards the store.

"No, I can't. My group will be waiting for me." But his words where his only form of protest. She wasn't too strong so it took them a while to get to the store as Daryl got dizzier and dizzier. She finally dragged him into the store and practically threw him on the ground. She ran back outside grabbed her knife and started to pull her scooter away from the pumps. Daryl thought she was just going to leave him there to die and he cursed her in his head and closed his eyes. What a way to go, grazed by a knife by some crazy looking girl that left him to die of blood loss in a gas station.

He could hear the door rattling so he snapped his head up to see the girl propping the scooter against the doors blocking them from anyone on the outside. She ran back over to him and started to unbutton his shirt and look at his wound. Her hands were quick and delicate on his tender flesh. She stood up quickly and jumped over the counter, disappearing for a few minutes. When she finally jumped back over she had a first aid kit and a bottle of vodka with her.

Quickly she set up and began to work. She used her knife to cut his shirt the rest of the way off and started using it to clean up most of the blood that was everywhere. Daryl had laid back and closed his eyes; it was getting hard to keep them open. All of a sudden it felt like someone had set his wound on fire. Before he realized it, he had grabbed her wrist and squeezed as hard as he could, making her let out a small whimper. His fingers instantly released her and guilt took over. Her hand gingerly touched his face and his eyes flew open to find her offering him the vodka. He tilted his head up and she tilted the bottle to his lips. He took a few good drinks and she took the bottle away.

He laid his head back and felt almost drunk already. He squirmed a bit, but every move hurt him. He felt her hands drying up his stomach and even unbuttoning the button on his jeans. He didn't say anything, he didn't even move. He was falling asleep as she covered up his wounds. Suddenly, he reached out for her and caught her wrist again and pulled her towards his face.

"Thank you for not leaving me. I really mean it too." He whispered drunkenly to her. He grabbed her face in both of his hands and just stroked her cheeks. Her eyes searched his face with her intense stare, but this time he didn't look away. Her face was soft now; she gently pulled away from his caress. He leaned back and was out in just a few short minutes.


	3. Rolling Stones

The sun beating down on his face made Daryl start awake. Already the store was uncomfortably warm. His head was already throbbing and his lower abs where sore. He forced himself to sit up and was relieved to see a bottle of pain relievers on top of a tee shirt. Next to the shirt was bottle of orange juice and a Twinkie. Daryl raised his eyebrows when he saw the pastry, breakfast of champions for hippies he thought. He took the pills, put the shirt on and looked around for the mystery girl. He couldn't see her anywhere but, the door was still barricaded.

"Where did you even go?" he said to himself. And almost as if she was responding, she let out a little sigh that almost made Daryl jump out of his skin. He managed to get to his feet to find her asleep on the counter; all curled in a ball with her back to him.

"Hey. Hey wake up. C'mon now." He said as he kept his distance. He didn't think she would attack him again, but better safe than sorry.

"No. Leave me alone." She mumbled sleepily. She shuffled a bit on the counter but didn't get up. Daryl furrowed his brow and reached forward to shake her shoulder. He shook her twice before her elbow came out and planted itself in his chest. The blow made him stumble back as he struggled to catch his breath, the pain radiated through his chest and stomach. With renewed rage, he snatched up the girl who was rubbing her elbow grumbling.

"What is your deal? Are you just violent or do you really dislike me that much?" Daryl shouted at the girl who was staring at him with wild bewildered eyes. Suddenly tears started to well in her eyes and Daryl released his grip on her shoulders. He backed away quickly and stared at her.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly as she wiped a single tear from her cheek. She then got up and walked silently around the corner.

That damn girl. She made him want to scream in her face but at the same time he couldn't. She looked so delicate, despite the fact that she kicked his ass practically. The sound of a toilet flushing startled him and he looked wide eyed as the girl came trotting out from behind some boxes. She stopped about 5ft from him and looked at him.

Daryl looked at her too. She looked so small right now; she barely came up to his shoulder. Her wild hair was even wilder now that she had slept on it. And for the first time he realized that she was wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt.

"Do you like sex and drugs too?" he said with a smirk on his face, thinking he was being clever. She scowled at him a bit and walked past him to the door and started to move the scooter so she could get out. He stood and watched her for a minute before nature called and he turned to go find the restroom.

When he returned she was standing on the street corner smoking a cigarette. Her large reflective shades hid her eyes from his sight. Her body was turned towards him but he couldn't see if she was glaring at him from behind her glasses, it made him squirm to think about. He started to walk towards her when she tensed up and put her cigarette out, briskly walked towards him and met him half way across the parking lot.

"I get high with a little help from my friends." A smile twitched on her lips as she walked past him and towards the store. Daryl smiled and turned to follow behind her.

"What's your name?" she said as the reached the door. She took off her sun glasses and really looked at Daryl.

"My name's Daryl."

She just smiled and turned around. She didn't seem bothered by the fact he didn't ask her name. And she didn't offer it up either. They walked into the store and she trotted off and he just stood in front of the counter unsure of what to do. He wiped the sweat off the back of his neck and groaned. Rick and the rest of the group must be distressed. He had been gone all night and they had slept well into the afternoon. The sound of a crunching chip startled him, the girl had come from the opposite side he expected her too.

"What time is it?" Daryl asked as he followed her over to the counter where she leaned. She looked down at her watch, replaced her sun glasses and smiled.

"You're not from here are you?" she said coolly.

"What's it to you? And what time is it?" Daryl asked pointedly.

"You're from somewhere in the dirty south, aren't you?" she stated, smirking just a bit. Daryl advanced on her and she barely batted an eyelash as he towered over her.

"Why don't you just tell me what time it is?" he growled as he glared at her.

"My watch doesn't work. Did you guys walk over all the way over here?" she said casually.

"What do you mean your watch doesn't work? I saw you just look down at it." He said incredulously.

"It doesn't tell time anymore. It's just the date and the temperature." She held her wrist up for him to inspect. He didn't look at the watch though, he stared at her. She must have had a screw loose somewhere. He had to get away from this crazy girl as soon as possible. He walked over to where he had been sleeping and looked for his cross bow and knife. He couldn't find either and he turned back to the girl who had hopped up on the counter and was playing with the old lighter racks.

"Where is my cross bow and knife?" Daryl asked impatiently.

"Why?" she asked without looking away from the racks.

"Why do you think? I'm leavin'." He said finally getting angry.

"I need to check your stitches first." She sighed as she tore her attention away from what she was doing to look at Daryl.

"Stitches? You gave me stitches?" he asked as he yanked up the bottom of his shirt to find a line of bandages down his stomach.

"Yeah, I guess I cut you deeper than I thought." She said with a grin.

"No. I've got a doctor in my group, he'll check them." He said frowning at her.

"No, you have to let me check them before you leave. You could die if there is an infection. It will fester Daryl." She said frankly and hopped down off the counter. She patted the spot where she had been sitting and nodded her head towards the counter. Daryl just stood and looked at her. Again she nodded her head towards the counter and took off her glasses. Still Daryl stood his ground.

"Can you not get up there? Do you need help?" she asked impatiently as she folded her arms.

"No I could get up there just fine. But I ain't going to." He spat back at her and he saw her eyebrow twitch slightly.

"Now why is that?" she asked frigidly. Her calmness was almost alarming and he almost rethought not sitting on the counter.

"I don't know you," such a lame excuse he thought, "Why am I going to let some lady I barely know poke at my wounds?" he said squirming under her gaze just a bit.

"What else do you need to know about me that you already don't already know? I'm medically competent and I'm not going to kill you." She stated and waved her hand towards the counter. Defeated, Daryl trudged towards the counter and climbed up.

"Now, take your shirt off and unzip your pants." She said as she stood before him.


End file.
